


Light Show

by Toshua



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-06
Updated: 2013-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-28 09:06:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toshua/pseuds/Toshua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cascade has a power outage and a light show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light Show

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on 852 Prospect in 1999

"Jim! Jim! Wake up! You gotta see this!" Blair charged up the stairs and bounced on the bed containing his lover. 

Jim's eyes flew open as Sandburg hit the mattress. A cold hand grabbed his arm and tugged, the other pushed the black sleeping mask off his face. 

"What the hell?!" Jim was pulled up, half-way out of the bed. 

"You gotta see this, Jim!" Blair bounded away from the bed, to the top of the stairs, then back again. 

Jim rubbed his eyes and pulled the sleeping mask off his forehead. He finally focused on the excited man in the bedroom. 

Blair was dressed, heavy parka zipped up to his chin, with a stocking hat pulled over his curls, heavy gloves on his hands, and a flashlight clutched under his arm. 

"Blair, what's going on? Why are you dressed? And why are you running around with a flashlight?" 

"The power is out. Get up! You've got to see this!" Blair bounced down the stairs and disappeared. 

Jim struggled out of his warm nest and reached for his robe and slippers. He heard Blair downstairs as he filled the tea pot and turned on the gas range. Jim stumbled down the stairs, still blinking. 

"What is going on, Chief? It's the middle of the night." 

Blair was grabbing a thermos and filling it with hot water and hot chocolate mix. He was using his flashlight as he moved around. He glanced at his partner. "Jim, you're not dressed." 

Ellison sighed. "I'm not dressed because I don't know what's going on." 

Blair rushed past Jim and started digging through a closet. He pulled out a tripod. 

"You're going to miss them. Hurry up!" 

Jim signed again and gave up, trudging back up the stairs to find clothes. 

Blair was bouncing in and out of the front door by the time Jim re-emerged, wearing old jeans, a dark turtle neck under a bright blue checked flannel shirt. He was reaching for his canvas jacket when Blair charged back again, grabbing the thermos and two mugs. 

Jim had no choice but to follow his enthusiastic partner out of the apartment and up the stairs to the roof. 

Once on the roof, he started to demand an explanation, but stopped when he caught sight of the light show above him. 

Blair was already kneeling on the camping pad he'd drug up the stairs. He glanced at his spell-bound partner. 

"Worth getting up for?" 

"Wow." Jim whispered as he walked to his lover, eyes still on the sky. Overhead, the Northern Lights danced. Red, yellow, and green streaks covered the sky in an undulating curtain. A spiral of red danced across the sky. It was followed by a curtain of green. 

Jim dropped onto the camping pad next to Blair. Blair snuggled behind Jim and wrapped his arms around Jim's waist. 

"Isn't this incredible? I heard on the radio that the aurora was really intense further north and we had a chance to see them. The power outage was Mother Nature's way to say take a look at what she can do." 

"Yeah," Jim whispered, his eyes on the sky. "I can hear them." 

"You can?" Blair looked at another red pinwheel of color spinning across the skyline. "Wow. What do they sound like?" 

"Kinda like the world's biggest static discharge. There's a swoosh and real low hum." Jim's eyes tracked the lights and sounds. "Some of it is like a radio station you're trying to tune into." 

"That is so cool. I can't hear them at all." 

The two men watched the aerial show in silence. The city was dark at their feet, traffic almost nonexistent in the early morning hours. Occasional emergency vehicles, lights flashing and sirens blaring disrupted the solitude. After a few minutes, Jim tugged Blair around in front of him and settled his partner into his lap. He wrapped his arms around the slender figure and nestled Blair close for warmth. 

Blair snagged the thermos and the mugs. He poured the steaming drink and handed Jim a mug. They sipped their drinks as they watched the sky, pointing at the intense bands of the dancing lights. The brightest streaks cast dim shadows around them, illuminating the mountain range in the distance, making it glow in reds and greens. The brightest stars and planets punched though the multi-colored haze. Orion was overhead, and the Big Dipper was beginning to set. 

"Didn't you grab the camera?" 

"Yeah, I thought I'd try some timed exposures. We might never see this again." 

Together they set up the tripod and camera, aiming it toward the sky. Jim chuckled at his companion as Blair growled about F stops and aperture settings and that his hands were getting cold. 

While Blair fiddled with the camera, Jim lay back on the camping pad and watched the sky. Little by little he let his eyesight expand, focusing on the swirling lights until the Earth fell away and he drifted with the crackling colors. There was no feeling of gravity, or of the cold seeping into his clothes. He floated on the colors, hearing the lights as they danced across the heavens. 

Blair finished up a roll of film and turned to his companion. "Jim, I'm getting cold and it looks like the best of the show is over. Want to go in?" 

Jim was flat on his back, hands laced behind his head. His eyes were wide open, fully dilated and not blinking. 

Blair groaned. "Where'd you go, Jim? It's too cold to zone out." There was no answer. 

Blair dropped down beside his companion and slid the unresisting head into his lap. 

"Come on, man, you do not want to spend the night on the roof. You'll freeze." Blair took the lax hands in his and blew on them, then rubbed them between his gloves. He called Jim's name and patted the sentinel's cheeks, urging Jim to return. 

Jim finally groaned and blinked. Blair heaved a sigh of relief. 

"You scared me, man. You haven't zoned in a long time." Blair helped Jim sit up and offered the last mug of hot chocolate. "Where did you go?" 

Jim looked up at the fading light show. "I was up there. Drifting, floating with the colors. I had no body, Earth was gone. It was just me and the lights. It was...intense." Blair held Jim close and looked at the sky, then down at the beautiful face. He stroked over the soft hair. "I'm glad you came back. I don't know what I'd do if you left me for the stars." 

"You would have found a way to follow me, I'm sure." Jim struggled to his feet, then pulled Blair up beside him. Together they gathered up the gear they'd brought to the roof and went and back to the loft. 

Inside, they put up the gear used for their star gazing, and draped their coats on the pegs. Jim then pulled Blair up the stairs, one hand fumbling with his shirt buttons as he went. 

"Got cold out there." Jim tugged his turtleneck over his head, bundling both shirts together. 

Blair nodded and pulled his own clothes off and tossed them into the corner. He crawled into the big bed and held the covers up for Jim to join him. 

They snuggled together to get warm, then dropped off into sleep as the power came back. Around them, the city slowly lit up and the majesty of the black sky was lost to the city again. 

* * *

End


End file.
